Chapter 47: The Return Journey (Part 1)

  The First Watch

  In Eral's account, a few people learned some details. The bounty quest arrived in Charles City after Odara and her party had set off on the road, which made Eral quite panicked for a while. Originally he just wanted to chat with Astra and relieve his boredom, but now he thought of Odara, that northern warrior who looked very powerful with a big sword on his back. If he followed them from behind, there shouldn't be too much trouble in terms of safety. Even if something happened, he could escape in time.

  Eral also went to see the wanted poster. He covered his face, looking at the poster with his face on it amidst the murmurs of the surrounding people and the reading voice of the Mercenary Union clerk.

  "Considering the shameful deeds of the criminal Erl. Heinrich, this decree is issued, offering a reward of fifty gold coins for the head of this detestable minstrel as depicted in the portrait. For his capture alive, an additional ten gold coins will be paid."

  "Then there are over twenty signatures of nobles," Eilar summarized.

  Jony Zhang widened his eyes and spoke to Ailar for the first time: "More than twenty nobles?"

  Aila nodded.

  "Fifty gold coins?"

  Aila nodded and shrugged her shoulders.

  "More than twenty nobles jointly offered a reward of fifty gold coins for the person who slept with their wives?!" Johnny still couldn't believe it.

  "Hush, softly." Eilar raised a finger to her lips, "Those lords in the south are of that nature, they don't take such things seriously."

  "Fifty gold coins is a huge sum, enough to keep a family of three from starving for over ten years without any income, enough to buy a magical plate armor with some left over, enough to buy a large estate... but twenty-something people together only came up with fifty gold coins? Friends, did that bastard sleep with your wives?"

  There is a reason for this.

  The lord's circle in the south of Weirsa has a very ancient style, a very, very old style. When it comes to fighting, they never fight to the death, but instead agree on a time and place, as well as spectators, then line up their troops and formations, say "fight", and only then do they start. The winner is overjoyed, while the loser hangs his head in shame, everyone shakes hands, exchanges ransom, and if there's time, they'll meet again next time.

  They would hold all sorts of banquets, everyone drinking and making merry, chatting with this one and that. Sometimes they'd get into a fight over some strange reason, then duel or make an appointment to fight - take your pick - Old Laidir was the type who'd lose a duel but still try to storm the castle to the death, which made people look down on him.

  It's actually quite strange, because the things they argue about and their strength have nothing to do with each other, such as which end of an egg should be peeled. Probably they are just bored. In the loneliness of their whole life, they always find something to do. On days when there is no war, some people become infatuated with money, some with art. However, more nobles fully demonstrated their masculine side, and they became infatuated with other people's wives.

  Yes, in the entire Versailles south, there are almost no noblewomen who still only sleep with their husbands five years after marriage. And among the nobles, not a single one remains faithful to his wife three years after marriage.

  How could they take Ailar seriously?

  "Why are they still offering a reward for your capture?" Astrid asked curiously, feeling nauseous after hearing Eral's description.

  "Oh, this, well, it's like this."

  As a minstrel who often performed on the beds of noblewomen, Eirak knew many private matters and secrets among the nobles. In his spare time operations, Eirak also learned about the characteristics of each noblewoman. As a result, some songs and stories began to spread widely in rural areas, causing a huge response and bringing some overreaction from the nobles.

  Jony understood that this kid not only messed with other people's women, but also used it as material to create a series of Middle-earth versions of... uh, Chinese classical art masterpieces, similar to those Jin Ping Mei or Meat Rack things.

  It's impolite to hit someone in the face, isn't this looking for trouble?

  "I thought I had escaped the pursuit of those soldiers who were no match for me, but unexpectedly they really spared no expense and published this task with no level restrictions." Elar sighed, spreading his hands in a gesture of helplessness.

  Blood loss... Johnny is speechless.

  At this time, O'Dara spoke up: "Did you meet anyone on the road who wanted to kill you?"

  Aila shook her head: "Not yet, probably hasn't accepted this task yet? Or maybe didn't notice me."

  Audrey looked at Elara's face carefully: "Actually, the safest way is to cut a few knives on your face, but I guess you won't agree. Since there is a reward of fifty gold coins for you, how much can you pay us to protect you?"

  Ailuo took out his own purse, bulging with coins. He looked around, then opened the purse.

  Joni felt his eyes were going blind.

  Ailar put away his pouch and said with a hint of pride, "I have seventy gold coins here. I'll offer sixty to hire you two to escort me back to Oseadin."

  Audra shook his head, snatched the money bag from his hand, tied it to his waist and said: "One hundred gold coins are not worth haggling over, if it's not enough I'll ask your father for more."

  Aira's face still hurt, she just wanted to argue back, but thinking of Odara's not-so-simple identity, she opened her mouth and finally didn't say anything.

  "Alright, let's rest. We'll take another room, the three of us in one and Astrid in another. Let's get an early start tomorrow. Elara, find a cloth to cover your face, I don't want any trouble."

  The next day, Odara and his party set out in a hurry with Elar only showing her eyes.

  Now that they had those seventy gold coins, they naturally didn't have to worry about road expenses anymore. Odala regretted the money spent on Gioni's two certificates. It wasn't until Gioni couldn't bear it anymore and bluntly pointed out that the two gold coins were taken from his own money that Odala stopped nagging.

  "Put the money here with me first, and I'll give it to you when we arrive." Odara said finally.

  Joni thought he might never see those lovely gold coins again.

  Eilar was a true bard, but his head was now wrapped tightly, so he couldn't say anything. Jony walked beside Astrid, continuing his story.

  The confrontation between the Roman Empire and the Musata Kingdom naturally ended with Musata's victory, trampling Rome. Those knights died heroically in battle, and then the brave warriors of Musata held a grand funeral for these noble knights, mourning the end of an era and celebrating the beginning of a new one.

  Eral listened on the side, with suspicion flashing in his eyes from time to time. He had never heard of any Roman Empire. Musata was familiar to him, from the horizon where the desert and sky met, a plume of smoke rose, and a group of warriors wielding curved blades galloped over. They shouted out the name Saraha, stepping into the land of the Sun God. Prayers could not save people from the slaughter of the desert warriors, only knights and the powerful church could drive away these demons who worshipped evil gods...

  This is the official hymn of Musata, from the Tanian Sacred Union.

  What's this Roman Empire thing?

  Joni wrapped up the legend of the Roman Empire, looking at the little girl's expectant face, he was at a loss. There were indeed fewer and fewer stories that could be told.

  Dragonlance? You can't just joke about gods here. Extermination of Immortals? How do you say "Immortal"? There are many war stories, but what background should they be based on? The Roman Empire further west?

  Johnny suddenly felt that something was off. From the start, his interactions with Astrid seemed too monotonous, just talking about stories all the time. He himself seemed to be... a character in a storybook! This didn't seem quite normal. Johnny didn't dare to confirm, as an otaku who had never had any romantic experience, he didn't understand anything.

  The brief chill was soon broken. Joanie looked at the eight people standing in front of them with a mixture of confusion and gratitude in her eyes. The eight men were all wearing leather armor, single-edged swords at their waists, shields on their backs, sturdy builds, ferocious faces, and at first glance, they were fugitives.

  A man who seemed to be the leader spoke up: "Halt! You, the one in back with your face covered, take off that cloth on your face!"

  Audrey was clearly not pleased that they were ignoring her and asked bluntly, "What are you doing? Move! We still have a long way to go."

  The leader glanced at the giant sword behind Johnny and Odara, his face somewhat unsightly. He turned back to look at his own subordinates, and suddenly gained some confidence: "Less nonsense, I heard that Ailar just came out of Salara City, our brothers are here for that reward. Tell your masked man to take down the cloth, if not, you go your way, if it is him, then don't blame us for being impolite."

  Audra glanced at the eight people blocking their way, then looked back at Ailar and then at Jony. Jony also looked at Audra, sighed, shook his head, and silently drew the giant sword from behind him.

  Seeing the opposite side making a move, the leader was very dissatisfied: "You dare to take action? Don't blame us for not giving you an opportunity!"

  Audrey and Johnny scattered and charged into the enemy formation. Astrid took down her longbow from her shoulder and shot arrows at a steady pace.

  Ailar pulled down the linen cloth covering her face, greedily took a few breaths of fresh air, hesitated for a moment, then drew out the long sword at her waist and joined the battle array.

  The giant sword is very intimidating visually, and it takes a certain amount of strength and courage to block the person carrying the giant sword. The strength of these eight people is not weak, with a fierce momentum, but what is meant by "not weak" is relative after all. This reference system is taken from ordinary bandits.

  The tragic situation on the other side of Odala doesn't need to be described in detail. The weapon, far superior to the military's standard giant sword, can shatter the opponent's shield with just two strikes and directly crush the enemy's single-edged sword when swung with full force. Wood chips, blood, corpses...

  This was Jony's first time fighting humans in the wild with his giant two-handed sword. Since winning the last rank promotion battle, Jony had been working on countering short-range weapons. At this moment, his weapon either chopped or slashed, bringing a fierce gust of wind, slamming into those hastily defensive shields and weapons, chopping into the bodies of the ferocious attackers, finally holding the sword in both hands to defend, blocking a single knife that was slashing towards him, kicking away the enemy with one foot, followed by a slash, half-chopping and half-slashing, opening up the person.

  Really, I don't feel disgusted at all. Joanie even feels a kind of pleasure, just when the limbs shatter and blood gushes out.

  It didn't go as smoothly on Ailar's side. His long sword was burning with flames, apparently a valuable magical weapon. When others hacked at his body and cut open the outer clothes, only a layer of white marks were left, and what he wore inside was definitely not an ordinary product either. But always getting beaten up, this is somewhat embarrassing.

  Eirak's swordsmanship indeed had a guided look, and the flaming sword body also had a very gorgeous visual effect. But when the two people on the opposite side came over with flames, Eirak suddenly became flustered, waving his long sword wildly, as if he was wielding a torch.

  Aisutier noticed the situation on this side, first two arrows hit the thighs of two people, and when they were not convenient to move, there were two more arrows, all exploding heads.

  Eight corpses fell on the road, splashing a piece of fresh blood. In addition, another person fell down.

  Aira's long sword fell to the ground, and she sat down on the ground, seemingly still in a state of shock.

  Odala stepped forward, grabbed him and shook him back and forth. Seeing no effect, he slapped him on the ear. With a crisp sound, Ailar finally came to his senses.

  "Haven't you ever killed anyone? Haven't you ever fought? Didn't your father ever teach you martial arts?" Odara asked loudly.

  Aira, no matter how thick her face was, at this time also somewhat embarrassedly lowered her head: "I've always hated fighting and killing since I was a child..."

  When Ailar was young, like all Osadin children, he received martial training from his elders. From a young age, Ailar showed obvious literary qualities and did not train hard or focus on practicing martial arts, which greatly disappointed his family. The feeling of being a tiger father and dog son was terrible, and even Albert Heinrich, Duke of Ailar, began to wonder if this child was really his own.

  It was calculated that there was no mistake. At this time, Ailal showed great interest in the war history of the Othman Kingdom and other countries. Every time he explained these histories, he would hold his head up seriously and listen carefully, not missing any details, which was a change from his careless attitude when practicing martial arts.

  Could it be that this young man has the potential to become a general? The duke was somewhat surprised.

  "In fact, I wanted to be a wandering poet who recites epic poems at that time." said Ailar Heinrich. As for the dream of sleeping with women all over the world, he wouldn't say it out loud.

  He later left home and became a somewhat famous minstrel named Eira, relying on his handsome appearance, magnetic voice, rich war stories and relatively excellent literary talent.

  Or perhaps the lone traveler Eilifr?

  "In short, based on what you said and what we've seen, you're almost useless in combat, right?" Odara stared into Eir's eyes.

  Aiyal thought for a moment and nodded.

  "Haven't you encountered any attacks all these years?" Jony asked strangely.

  "Actually, you see, I'm not completely useless, one or two small thieves are still manageable." Eilar argued.

  Three people stared at him in silence.

  Aila was looked at with discomfort and finally collapsed: "Okay, okay, I usually go to the Mercenary Union to hire bodyguards..."

  That's right!

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